diff --git a/modules/transport-netty4/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/http/netty4/Netty4HttpClient.java b/modules/transport-netty4/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/http/netty4/Netty4HttpClient.java
index c4ab52601c25a..4139db762c6fb 100644
--- a/modules/transport-netty4/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/http/netty4/Netty4HttpClient.java
+++ b/modules/transport-netty4/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/http/netty4/Netty4HttpClient.java
@@ -87,6 +87,7 @@ public List<FullHttpResponse> get(SocketAddress remoteAddress, String... uris) t
             final HttpRequest httpRequest = new DefaultFullHttpRequest(HTTP_1_1, HttpMethod.GET, uris[i]);
             httpRequest.headers().add(HOST, "localhost");
             httpRequest.headers().add("X-Opaque-ID", String.valueOf(i));
+            httpRequest.headers().add("traceparent", "00-4bf92f3577b34da6a3ce929d0e0e4736-00f067aa0ba902b7-01");
             requests.add(httpRequest);
         }
         return sendRequests(remoteAddress, requests);
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/transport/Transports.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/transport/Transports.java
index 65d52c83649e4..a2ad4a4a8767f 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/transport/Transports.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/transport/Transports.java
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.tasks.Task;
 
 import java.util.Arrays;
+import org.elasticsearch.core.Set;
 
 public enum Transports {
     ;
@@ -52,7 +53,9 @@ public static boolean assertNotTransportThread(String reason) {
 
     public static boolean assertDefaultThreadContext(ThreadContext threadContext) {
         assert threadContext.getRequestHeadersOnly().isEmpty() ||
-            threadContext.getRequestHeadersOnly().size() == 1 && threadContext.getRequestHeadersOnly().containsKey(Task.X_OPAQUE_ID) :
+            threadContext.getRequestHeadersOnly().keySet().equals(Set.of(Task.X_OPAQUE_ID)) ||
+            threadContext.getRequestHeadersOnly().keySet().equals(Set.of(Task.TRACE_ID)) ||
+            threadContext.getRequestHeadersOnly().keySet().equals(Set.of(Task.X_OPAQUE_ID, Task.TRACE_ID)) :
             "expected empty context but was " + threadContext.getRequestHeadersOnly() + " on " + Thread.currentThread().getName();
         return true;
     }